DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed on 2/17/25, the requirements 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d) are met.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited on a Form PTO 1449 have been considered.
Specification
The specification has been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. However, the applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-9 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Watanabe et al. (U.S. 2019/0004468 A1).
Watanabe et al. disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding independent Claim 1, a sheet drying apparatus (20, §§0030-0082 and Figs. 2-8) comprising:
a conveyance portion (21, §0031 and Fig. 2) that conveys a sheet (21, §§0023-0025 and Figs. 1-2) having an image formed thereon with ink containing moisture;
a drying portion (22, 80, §0031 and Fig. 2) including a heater (80, §0031 and Fig. 2) arranged opposite the conveyance portion, the drying portion heating and drying the sheet by using the heater;
a heater voltage power supply (43, §0043 and Fig. 3) that applies an alternating-current voltage to the heater (§0142); and
a control portion (70, §0045 and Fig. 4) that controls the heater voltage power supply,
wherein the control portion is operable to change a duty of the alternating-current voltage applied to the heater from an initial set value to an adjusted set value (§0111-00143 and Figs. 10-12; the disclosure that “the heating temperature is changed according to the degree of curling” is regarded as reading on this limitation).
Regarding Claim 2, the control portion changes the duty from the initial set value to the adjusted set value automatically based on output information on a property of the sheet (§0129, 0142-00143 and Figs. 10-12).
Regarding Claim 3, wherein the output information on the property of the sheet includes at least one of a type, a size, a thickness, a print ratio of the sheet (§0129).
Regarding Claim 5, an input portion (e.g. 51, §0045 and Fig. 4) that selects as the adjusted set value one of a plurality of duties (the disclosure of selecting the heater duty based on input parameters, §§0111-00143, is regarded as reading on this limitation),
wherein when the input portion selects as the adjusted set value one of the plurality of duties, the control portion changes the duty of the alternating-current voltage applied to the heater to the adjusted set value (§§0111-0143 and Figs. 10-12).
Regarding Claim 6, wherein when the input portion selects as the adjusted set value one of the plurality of duties and a drying process for the sheet is performed with the alternating-current voltage applied to the heater by use of the selected adjusted set value, the control portion changes the duty from the adjusted set value back to the initial set value after the drying process is performed 0111-0143 and Figs. 10-12).
Regarding Claim 7, wherein the input portion is operable to select as the initial set value one of the plurality of duties (e.g. 0 for “off” setting, §0111-0143 and Figs. 10-12).
Regarding Claim 8, wherein the control portion is operable to perform, before the drying process for the sheet is performed, preliminary heating to apply the alternating-current voltage to the heater to heat the drying portion to or above a predetermined temperature (§§0142-00143), and
when the duty is changed from the initial set value to the adjusted set value, the control portion performs the preliminary heating by applying the alternating-current voltage to the heater by use of the adjusted set value (§§0142-00143 and Figs. 8-9).
Regarding Claim 9, wherein if the adjusted set value is 0%, the control portion performs the drying process without performing the preliminary heating (§§0142-00143 and Figs. 10-12).
Regarding Claim 12, an image forming system (1, §0019 and Fig. 1) comprising: an image forming apparatus (40, §§0019, 0024-0025 and Fig. 1) that forms an image on a sheet by using ink containing moisture; and
the sheet drying apparatus according to claim coupled to the image forming apparatus at a downstream side thereof with respect to a conveyance direction of the sheet, the sheet drying apparatus drying the sheet having the image formed by the image forming apparatus (0025-0026 and Fig. 1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe et al. (U.S. 2019/0004468 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yamamoto et al. (U.S. 2011/0267410 A1).
Watanabe et al. disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 4, all limitations of Claim s (from which this Claim depends);
a temperature sensor (H1-HM, §0042 and Fig. 3) that senses temperature outside or inside the sheet drying apparatus,
wherein the control portion changes the duty from the initial set value to the adjusted set value automatically based on the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor (§§0141-0143).
Watanabe et al. do not disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 4, the sensor being a temperature-humidity sensor that senses temperature and humidity, and the control portion changes the duty from the initial set value to the adjusted set value automatically based on the humidity sensed by the humidity sensor.
Yamamoto et al. disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 4, the sensor being a temperature-humidity sensor (145, 215, §§0042, 0049-0051 and Figs. 7A, 10) that senses temperature and humidity, and the control portion changes the duty from the initial set value to the adjusted set value automatically based on the humidity sensed by the humidity sensor (§0059 and Fig. 12A). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to apply the temperature-humidity sensor of Yamamoto et al. to the sheet drying apparatus of Watanabe et al. to correct the amount of applied heat for ambient humidity and hence obtain optimal drying.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-11 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claim 10 is the inclusion of the limitations of a sheet drying apparatus including when the duty is changed to the adjusted set value, the control portion changes an amount of air blown by the hot air fan according to the adjusted set value. Similarly, the primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claim 10 is the inclusion of the limitations of a sheet drying apparatus including wherein when the duty is changed to the adjusted set value, the control portion changes an amount of air blown by the belt cooling fan according to the adjusted set value. It is these limitations found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination of that has not been found, taught or suggested by prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER D SHENDEROV whose telephone number is (571)270-7049. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodrigues can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEXANDER D SHENDEROV/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/JASON S UHLENHAKE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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